Stratton Bates Recreation Ground
New Playground at Stratton Bates
The Council are delighted to share that the eagerly awaited new playground at Stratton Bates, will begin on 6th June 2022. If all goes according to plan, the playground will be completed for the Summer Holidays.
The playground has been designed and will be installed by Eibe, who won our playground tender process, basing their design on our extensive public consultation. The new playground will be larger in size and less flat and will incorporate a wide range of natural themed equipment and surfacing. New equipment has been chosen to be accessible to different ages and abilities from toddlers upwards, to include users with physical and other disabilities. The playground will include climbers, tube and double slides, tunnel, climbing wall, monkey bars, sunken trampoline, play dens, mini train, swings, shelter, fallen logs and activity boards. We hope you love it.
Public consultation for the New Playground
Several years ago the Council identified the need to redevelop Stratton Bates playground - the largest playground in New Alresford - where much of the existing equipment has gone beyond its expected lifespan. The Council began a large-scale public consultation involving interactive workshops with children at Sun Hill Infants and Junior School, Perins, residents of adjoining Makin’s Court and residents on neighbouring roads.
The results showed the type of equipment and spaces children and residents wanted to see in a new playground. From this, three design scenarios were prepared by Feria Design and presented at a public exhibition in September 2020 attended by over 200 people. The scenarios were “Wild Adventure Play”, “Big Equipment Play” and “Colourful Fun Play”. These three scenarios were voted upon.
Votes from the public exhibition, showed a clear preference for Wild Adventure Play with some element of Big Equipment Play, with equipment to be made from timber and natural stone.
The results of the consultation also showed that our anticipated budget wasn’t sufficient to achieve what residents wanted. Since then, it has taken time to get the funds in place. We are hugely grateful to Alresford Pigs, Alresford Rotary and Alresford Youth Association who have also contributed funding for this project.
Our thanks to the children from Sun Hill Infants and Juniors, students from Perins and all other residents who took the time to attend our consultation sessions or send in feedback. We hope you agree the playground is worth the wait.